Thank you for taking a moment of your time …

Imagine waking up one morning and finding your true love, your partner in life, your best friend … gone, ripped away from you. An incredible feeling of emptiness and loss comes over you. And to make matters worse, this happened not because of anything that you had done wrong, but simply because of some mix-up with paperwork.

I met ‘K’ in the early spring of 2008. She had come to America from Ukraine with her 4-year-old daughter ‘S’. We had an instant connection, that fantastic spark that we all dream about when we are looking for someone special. The more time we spent together, the more I got to know this wonderful woman, a quality person, beautiful on the inside as well as the outside. She is a devoted, loving mother to her daughter. We connected in so many ways, and through time we fell in love. She had turned out to be the woman I had been searching for all my life.

We got married in the late summer. I took ‘S’ to be my daughter. The 3 of us had become a very tight, close knit family. We were extremely happy & content just to be together.

In the fall, we enrolled ‘S’ (now 5) in kindergarten. Though her English was limited, she immediately made many friends in her class. Her teacher constantly commended her on her studies and behavior in the classroom.

‘K’ is bilingual, speaking Russian & English. She found out that there was an 8 year old boy at the school who was having a really had time learning. He was from Russia and knew hardly any English. ‘K’ decided to volunteer 3 days a week to help the young student. He made rapid progress. ‘K’ really enjoyed working with other students as well and helped in several classes. The principle of the school told us several times how much they appreciated ‘K’s help. The eventual plan was for her to work in the school system to help children with language/learning difficulties.

Then our whole world crashed around us. Because of some confusion with some paperwork at the immigration department, we found out that ‘K’ & ‘S’ visas were about to expire and they would have to leave the country immediately. They could have stayed here illegally, living ‘invisible’ so that we would not have to be apart. But we made the agonizing decision to do the right thing, and on October 10th, my family got on a plane that took them back to Ukraine, some 9,000 miles away.

I have started the visa process to bringing them back home, but it is not easy and there are a lot of expenses that go with it. There are immigration petitions and filings, medical examinations, costs for embassy interviews and of course getting them back to the U.S. I do work full time, and am searching everyday to find night work as well. This is just one lump of expenses that I need help with. I am desperate to bring my family home. I’m trying everything within my power … even donating plasma for extra money. But I am still so short on the funds needed. Every day apart is so painful, and without the funds to finish this process, every day the hope of seeing my family again fades a little bit more.

I understand that the economy is tough for a lot of people right now. I never thought I would be in this situation, to have to ask for relief from kind hearted strangers. But if there is a possibility you can help, even if to contribute just 5 or 10 dollars to our family’s cause, every little bit will help bring our family back together.

I want to thank you for taking a moment to read my situation, and if you can assist us, from the bottom of my heart I gratefully say “thank you”. You have no idea how much your help will be appreciated. If not, I understand. Times are hard for a lot of families right now. I wish you well and happiness for the new year.